Landlord increases rent

monkeyboy1074

Hi, my wife and I have been privately renting out house for 5 years paying £1200 pcm. Today our landlord dropped off a letter stating that she proposes to increase the rent to £1500pcm. 

That’s a 25% increase! Is she allowed to do this?
we are on a rolling month by month rental. 

The rent has not been increased in the 5 years that we have been living here.
we have redecorated the whole house , at no cost to the landlord. 

We haven’t had any kind of inspection of the property in the 5 years.
 Just looking for some advice and clarification.
thanks 

km1500

the landlord has been incredibly generous not increasing the rent for all that time

I think 25% is a reasonable amount and to be honest you are probably lucky it is not more in this climate

Brie

Well you can say no and see what she says.  Frankly I know a lot of people will say you've got off lightly with no increases in all this time.  25% now is about 5% a year (sort of) so in that way it's not too bad.  How does the new rent compare to others in your area?  Would you find as nice a place for that price?  

If you do say no and refuse to budge on that I suspect she might try to evict you.  In which case you will be able to point to the fact that she is in breach of various rules about inspections that need to be done annually.  

silvercar

Any kind of inspection?? Has the gas certificate been done?

brett19852010

Option is to negotiate to 12.5%, if you could be happy with that. If you vote with your feet, what is the local market like?/do you have to restore the decor to return the property as you found it?/lack of correct paperwork could delay the increase.

MultiFuelBurner

You don't need to have an inspection every year but as mentioned above you would need a gas safety certification if you have gas at the property.

propertyrental

Read

Post 5: Rent increases: when & how can rent be increased?

Stubod

..what does your contract say about rent increases?...apart from that a 25percent increase after 5 years if nothing does not seem to bad on the current climate..?

la531983

I know the OP probably doesn't care about his or her landlords financial situation but look at it this way - the interest rate on his mortgage on the property you are living in may have just shot up like everyone else who has one rolling off a cheap fix. Add to that his letting agent has likely had increased costs and has to pass them on. 

secla

As said if its inline with current rents in the area then its difficult to argue. If its an official section 13 notice of rent increase you can contest it but you will need to prove its above what similar property's in your area are being rented out for

The fact that you decorated the place has nothing to do with it, Did you ask the landlord if you could decorate ? They could ask you to return it back to how it was when you leave. eg. all painted magnolia etc.

TisMeBill

It may also be a necessity for the LL, we were in a similar position as landlords. We were renting a house out for £1200 a month, our fixed term mortgage was due to end this year, and we were told by our mortgage broker that we could not get a new mortgage based on that rent and would need to charge at least £1550 a month in order to re-mortgage. We decided to step away from being landlords and sold the house, unfortunately the tenants then had to find somewhere else to live.